


Traditions

by femmenoire



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-06
Updated: 2015-01-06
Packaged: 2018-03-06 09:57:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3130355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/femmenoire/pseuds/femmenoire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barry and Iris discuss their Halloween costumes. </p><p>*I know that The Flash and Superman exist in the same universe. I'm playing around with that. So... go with it? :D*</p>
            </blockquote>





	Traditions

Halloween was her favorite holiday. Or maybe she’d moved it to second favorite since college; just below Christmas. Barry made a mental note to check her tumblr tonight, which was mainly just Beyonce reblogs and lists of all her favorite things: favorite holidays, favorite Beyonce outfits (by year), favorite movie sequels, etc. The worst was that Iris fully expected Barry to be up to date on any changes to her tastes. 

He pretended to hate it, but really, he usually memorized her lists anyway. 

But back to Halloween and the Halloween superstore where Barry was currently following Iris around like a lost puppy while she considered their costume options. 

“…it just doesn’t make any sense, you know,” she said, twirling around to look at him.

“Um… yea, exactly. It doesn’t,” Barry replied even though he had no idea what she was talking about. Was it about decorations? Dying her hair versus buying a wig? Or the slutty snowman costume she’d been ranting about for a week?

“Why would a snowman show that much skin? It’s COLD!”

Bingo, Barry thought with a triumphant grin. “Totally. Wouldn’t she get frostbite?”

“Exactly,” she said, beaming at him over her shoulder. 

Barry wished he could slow down time at will and bask in this moment forever. 

But all too quickly, she turned to look at him directly. He stopped abruptly in his tracks and accidentally dropped the decorations clutched precariously in his arms. Why hadn’t he gotten a basket?

“Bear…,” she whispered in that soft voice he loved. They both knelt down to pick up their items, but somehow he was still clutching them all in his arms when he stood. 

He gave her a quizzical look that she deflected. 

“Let’s get started,” she said in the same tone Joe used when he ran the rookie orientation at the precinct, which was, not coincidentally, the same voice he’d used on them as children when doling out weekly chore assignments. Barry involuntarily stood at attention. 

Iris continued, “I’ve been thinking a lot about this and I reckon that we have two options.”

“Reckon,” Barry interrupted. 

She gave him an annoyed glance as she began to pace back and forth. 

“I think, in honor of these new…super….people that have started popping up that we should be… Drum roll please.”

Barry shifted his weight to the left and gave her a hard stare as a reminder that his hands were too full to oblige. Iris moved to his right side and started drumming her hands on his arm. “Ow,” Barry replied. 

“Batman and Robin!” Her mouth spread in a wide smile and she looked rather pleased with herself. Until…

“No,” Barry said, shaking his head vigorously. 

“Why not?”

“You know why.”

“Barry they’re just comic books.”

“They’re ju-. Take it back,” he said, truly offended. 

Iris took a deep breath in and considered. “Fine, I take it back. But I like Batman and Robin.”

“No you like the batmobile, which unless you’re going as a car this year, doesn’t make for a great costume.”

“The batmobile is so cool though!”

“It’s a car. Are you gonna be a car for Halloween, Iris?”

She bit her bottom lip and really seemed to consider it, but eventually shook her head. “No. But we’d make a totally cool Batman and his trusty sidekick, Robin.”

Barry’s eyes narrowed. “Who would I be?”

Iris pursed her lips together to stop from smiling. “So I know that Batman is usually taller but-“

Barry didn’t stay to hear her finish. He knew how this would end. He’d been here before. There was the time they’d gone as a rainbow and he’d spent the entire night shuffling from her right to left as the clouds. Or, in the eighth grade, she’d been a cop and he was a robber. She made him spend the whole night in handcuffs, while she held out both of their bags when trick-or-treating. Or, that one time she’d come to visit him at college and she was a cheerleader…and so was he. 

All her ideas. 

But this was the last straw. He refused to be the Robin to her Batman. He refused to go as Batman and Robin, period.

 

You know,” he said, dumping their decorations on the cashier counter, “shouldn’t you be doing this with Eddie? He is your boyfriend. “

“Well yea but… this is our thing, Barry. Come on, please.”

“No.” 

She pouted at him and he looked away. “That isn’t going to work, Iris. Not this time.”

“But-“

“That’ll be $25.15,” the cashier interrupted. They both pulled out their wallets. 

“I’ve got a $20,” she said. 

“I’ve got a $10 and… fifteen cents,” Barry replied. 

“Ok grandma,” Iris said, nudging him playfully.

The cashier handed back their change and bagged up their items. Barry and Iris watched in silence. Iris was trying to figure out a way to convince Barry to relent, while Barry was wondering where they were headed for lunch. They didn’t talk again until they were in Iris’ car, heading home. 

“So… is your only objection to Batman and Robin or do you not want to be my costume buddy anymore?”

Barry heard the pout in her voice and knew he was sunk. She’d win. She always did. She knew she could play him like a piano. But he always wondered if she knew how much he loved it. 

After a minute of silence he exhaled loudly and finally answered, but he didn’t turn to look at her. “It’s our thing, right?”

He knew she was smiling. He didn’t have to look at her for confirmation. 

“Ok, so no Batman and Robin. I told you we had two options. What about…” Barry found himself holding his breath. “What if you were Superman?” He turned to look at her, confused. 

“I would be Superman?”

“Yep.”

“And who would you be? Lois Lane,” he cringed at the high-pitched tone of his voice.

“No.” She turned to wink at him, with a mischievous grin. 

“Wonder Woman. Obviously.”


End file.
